Antivirus software continuously scans for threats such as viruses and malware, disarming them before they cause irreparable harm, as well as protecting from future infections.
Antivirus programs frequently come equipped with additional internet security features, including VPN, password manager, parental controls, webcam protection and performance optimization tools. But these additional tools often don’t add anything useful or effective – and can often burden the performance of your device even further.
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Defender, included as part of Windows 10, is widely considered one of the premier malware protection solutions. Independent testing firms have demonstrated its consistently positive performance.
Windows Media Center is free and comes preinstalled, making it simple for you to get started using it without downloading additional software. Plus, its excellent parental controls offer content filtering and app restrictions for children.
However, its reporting capabilities fall short and are unsuited for businesses, particularly organizations employing formal IT groups or security operations centers (SOC).
Microsoft Defender delivers strong device protection. It includes features such as core isolation, security processor and secure boot that aim to prevent malicious code from breaching an operating system and damaging it.
Trend Micro
Trend Micro is an award-winning antivirus and Internet security program, protecting you against an array of online threats as well as identity theft.
This software offers multiple levels of protection, such as social networking protection that blocks links on popular websites. Furthermore, it automatically checks URLs before opening them and detects malicious ones if any slip through.
Anti-phishing protection from this device was awarded excellent by AV-Comparatives and it successfully blocked over 95% of phishing sites as well as malware and spyware infections.
Avast
Avast is the second-most popular antivirus software worldwide, serving over 435 million monthly users and boasting an excellent track record and comprehensive feature set that make it an excellent choice for consumers concerned about security.
Avast provides a firewall to safeguard against potential online attacks and protects devices against unknown apps or files that attempt to run on devices. Furthermore, their Sandbox Technology ensures only known files run properly on devices.
The software earned an excellent rating in the AV-Test Malware Protection Test, scoring 98.9 percent against live malware attacks – just below industry average of 99.5 percent. When performing performance tests on popular websites it slowed down by only seven to nine percent compared with an industry average of 12 percent.
Intego
Intego for Mac is an antivirus suite offering both scheduled and ad hoc scans to provide complete protection from all forms of malware, including the powerful VirusBarrier detection and removal tool.
VirusBarrier not only lets you scan for viruses, but it also allows you to customize which files and folders should be excluded from future scans. This feature can be useful if you regularly work with certain files or folders and want them scanned only when specifically necessary for protection.
Intego also comes equipped with the Personal Backup feature, allowing you to save and restore data securely from an automated backup solution. In fact, you can set it to automatically back up files on a regular schedule (say every morning).
Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes is an award-winning antivirus program with numerous security features, such as its virus scanner which is capable of detecting and eliminating threats on Windows, Mac OSX, and Android devices.
Machine learning technology enables it to quickly identify new threats and block malware without human intervention, performing on-demand scans as well as real-time protection against all forms of malware threats.
Four-layered defense technology provides protection from malware and online threats such as ransomware and spyware, hardening both devices and applications by stopping remote code execution and blocking exploits.
